


Seven Days In Paris

by ConnectingSmallDots



Series: Libs' JackDaniels Writings [3]
Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, M/M, Rival Spy AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-22
Updated: 2015-06-06
Packaged: 2018-03-31 18:39:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3988573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConnectingSmallDots/pseuds/ConnectingSmallDots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack Thompson works for the S.S.R, an espionage agency based in New York. But being based somewhere doesn't mean he stays there and Paris is the destination for his new case.</p><p>(Rival Spy AU. JackDaniels.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, my darlings. I'm back again. Did you miss me? I missed you.  
> So, here's the spy AU I promised and I hope you enjoy it. Updates should be about three-ish days apart to give me time to write them and revise for my exams at the same time.  
> Warning: I do not know how spy agencies work or how anything works really so just pretend with me, okay? Thanks.  
> Here we go.

“Morning, Jackass. I hope you slept poorly.” Peggy Carter said, stepping in the lift and neatly clasping her hands in front of her as the doors closed. 

Jack grinned, staring straight ahead. “I hope you tea is cold this morning and you spend the day filing.” He replied and Peggy’s mouth twitched into a smile.

Every day started like that as they always arrived at the office at the same time. At first, their words had been genuine but, over time, they had become very close despite not meaning too. 

“Angie not in this morning?” Jack inquired, noting the empty space where the perky brunette would have been. Peggy shook her head.

“She’s coming in this afternoon. She’s running an errand for Chief. Something about plane tickets, I think.” Peggy shrugged and the lift stopped. 

The doors opened and the pair got out, walking in step through the corridor and into the main office. All the other agents looked up when they entered, greeting them with small waves and mumbled “morning”s. 

They sat down at their desks and Peggy took a sip of her tea. “Shit, it’s cold!” She complained and Jack barked out a laugh. 

“Good thing I slept fine then.” He grinned at her before logging onto his computer and starting his work.

~

Jack had been working for the S.S.R for two years. Before that, he had been in the army and had severed many a tour abroad. It had been Chief Dooley who had recruited him and Chief Dooley who turned him into one of the agency’s best agents. Jack had more successful cases under his belt than a significant proportion of the other agents and yet, despite the energetic lifestyle he led, he could also be incredibly lazy.

“Carter. You couldn’t make me a coffee, could you?” Jack sighed, leaning back in his chair and running a hand through his hair. 

“No.” Peggy said firmly. “Not unless you want it poisoned, anyway. Get off your arse and do it yourself.” She didn’t even look away from her screen, fingers still moving in a blur as she typed. 

“Angie or Jarvis would get me some if they were here. Please?” Jack whined, almost falling out of his chair when he leant back too far, sticking out a hand to lean against the wall. 

Peggy didn’t reply, ignoring him. Jack opened his mouth to say something when a notification popped up in the corner of his screen: an email from the Chief titled ‘My Office. Now.’

Jack sighed again and pushed his chair back, getting to his feet and locking his computer, turning off the monitor. 

“You couldn’t make me a tea, could you, Jackass?” Peggy called after him and he flipped her off before the door closed. 

Jack made his way down the corridor and let himself into Chief Dooley’s office without knocking. Anyone else would have been in trouble for doing so but Dooley had a soft spot of Jack which made getting decent cases so much easier. 

“Am I in trouble?” Jack asked before he was even half way into the room and was silence by Dooley waving a hand at him, holding his phone to his ear, listening intently. 

Jack sat down on the chair in front of the desk, spinning around in it like a child. He had broken seven desk chairs in the last year- and only paid for three- but there was something entertaining about spinning round in circles that kept Jack amused while Dooley talked.

“Excellent. That’s brilliant. I’ll tell him now. Thank you, Angie.” The Chief nodded then hung up, placing his mobile down on his desk and drumming his fingers on the wood as he waited for Jack to stop spinning. “You done?” He asked.

“Yes, sir.” Jack said. “Am I in trouble?” He repeated and Dooley shook his head. 

“No. I have a new case for you.” He said and Jack’s face lit up. He leant forward in his chair, clearly pleased with the news. Dooley picked a tablet off his desk and handed it to Jack. “That is Léo Moreau. Heard of him before?”

Jack shook his head. “Should I?” He asked, double tapping the picture of Moreau. He was a lean, tall man with bronze skin and a comical moustache that made him look like he’d come from a bad spy movie. 

“Not necessarily. He’s a French business man. One wife, one other partner and a successful private company.” Dooley explained. 

Jack frowned. “If he’s French, surely this is the DST’s job not ours.” He pointed out and Dooley sighed. 

“Let me finish, Thompson.” He said and Jack smiled apologetically. “We’ve received information telling us that he’s smuggling something into the US. We don’t know what but we do know who he’s meeting to carry it over. Alexander James.”

Jack scrolled down the information on the tablet to find James’ picture. James looked no older than twenty-five and his picture was none too flattering. 

“You think drugs then?” Jack guessed, looking at the dark circles under James’ eyes and the malnourished appearance to his face.

“I think we don’t know, Thompson. Don’t put words into my mouth.” Dooley said. “Angie’s secured you a flight and you’ll be leaving tomorrow morning to be ready to intercept the deal. Your hotel is booked and-,”

“Wait.” Jack raised his hand, cutting the Chief off midsentence. “You’re sending me where?”

“Paris. I hear the weather’s nice this time of year although the forecast suggests rain on Thursday.” Dooley clarified and Jack’s jaw dropped. 

“You are aware I’m piss poor at French, yes?” He checked and Dooley raised his eyebrows. 

“Are you? Stark informed me you were excellent.”

~

“I said _German_ , you pillock! I speak German, not French!” Jack yelled, slamming his hand down on Howard Stark’s workbench, making several tools jump. 

The inventor laughed, pushing his goggles up into the spikes of his messy hair, smudging soot across his cheek when he wiped at it with the back of his hand. 

“You’ll have fun in France. I made you some cool gadgets too.” He grinned and Jack seethed, arms folded across his chest. 

“I don’t need gadgets. I need my gun. You said you’d have it fixed last week but you haven’t delivered.” Jack said, tone still as angry but quieter. 

Howard’s smile got even bigger and Jack was convinced it would fall off his face. “That’s because I was making some adjustments.”

Jack sighed. “Please don’t tell me you’ve added fingerprint recognition. I refuse to be the Daniel Craig of the agency.” He said pointedly, watching as Howard walked to the other side of the room where he opened a draw marked ‘JTST’. 

“You almost have the eyes for it. If you didn’t have that stick up your arse, I’d take you out for a drink sometime. Here.” Howard handed the gun over and Jack took it cautiously. 

“It’s… lighter.” He said and Howard nodded enthusiastically. 

“There’s less inside it. It holds more bullets too and I made you some special tranquiliser shots for anyone you don’t want to kill or maim.” He said, bouncing from foot to foot with an energy that never seemed to leave him. 

“Great.” Jack said, sarcasm creeping into his voice a little as he put his gun into its holster. “Do I get those too?” He added and Howard’s mouth formed an ‘o’ shape before he dashed across the room to grab a large box and handed it to Jack. 

“Enjoy. I’m serious about the drink though if you’re interested. I’ve seen your files. I do love a man with experience with all genders.” Howard winked and Jack summoned a great deal of strength not to punch the inventor in the face.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather get drinks with a walrus.” Jack said, smiling through gritted teeth. 

Howard laughed. “That’s not a nice way to talk about Agent Anderson. He has feelings, you know.”

Jack gave in and punched him.

~

Jack spent the rest of the day researching Léo Moreau and Alexander James. Moreau’s website was neat, professional and very secure while James’ criminal record consisted of drugs charges, violent offenses and two short jail sentences. Jack was also using half of his screen to look for stupid videos that he would flick off the edge of his screen and onto Peggy’s disturbing her work with kittens falling off counter tops and tortoises stomping on Lego houses.

“For goodness sake, Jackass!” Peggy yelled at him when he sent her a video of Barack Obama edited to sing ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’. “Some of us have work to be doing so stop!” She flicked the video back into his screen, followed by a picture of her with her middle finger up. 

Jack laughed, sending the original video over and over again while she tried to send them all back. Then she stopped suddenly and Jack realised that he’d managed to flick over his notes on Moreau by accident. 

_Well, shit,_ he thought, _now she’s going to want in on the case._

Sure enough, his phone buzzed on his desk with a text from Peggy. 

Carter: I want in.

Jackass: Absolutely not.

Carter: Why not?

Jackass: Because it’s my case.

Carter: I don’t have a case right now. Please?

Jackass: Can’t. Chief’s already booked the flight.

Carter: Wait, you’re going to France?

“Shit.” Jack swore under his breath. He could feel Peggy’s eyes on him but he refused to look round. 

Carter: At least let me help a little. You’ll need me and you know it.

Jackass: I don’t need anyone’s help. 

Carter: Two words: Brooklyn Incident.

Jackass: I hate you so much.

Carter: Come on, Jackass. You either get me helping you or you have to wing it.

Jackass: Fine.

Jack could see Peggy punch the air out of the corner of his eye as he locked his phone and set it face down on his desk. He was going to regret that decision, he knew it.

About five minutes later, Angie entered the office. Despite looking a little windswept, she was clearly as bright and happy as usual as she half skipped down the rows of desks and placed an envelope on Jack’s desk. 

“Enjoy your flight. I got you the seat by the emergency exit because I know how you like your leg room.” She said and Jack couldn’t help but smile back. 

“Thanks, Angie.” He replied and she nodded before moving over to perch on Peggy’s desk and chat to her girlfriend. 

~

“Maddie, I need you to look after Chad again.” Jack sighed, phone pressed to his ear as he flopped down onto his sofa. His sister sighed back on the other end of the call. 

“I can’t keep taking your cat in, Jack. If you don’t like him then give him away.” Maddie said and Jack turned his head, watching as his cat padded across the carpet and sat down in his line of vision, head tilted curiously. 

“I would have arranged something else but my boss literally just threw this trip on me. I don’t have the time.” Jack pointed out and he could hear Maddie weighting up her options.

“Where are you going?” She asked and Jack paused. He didn’t like to tell his sister much about his work; after all, it would be his fault if anything happened to her.

“France.” He answered. There was no harm in saying that, he decided. France was a large country and it would be difficult to find him with only that knowledge. 

“Ooo.” Maddie said. “I do hope you’ll have some time to make _friends._ I hear the French are great romantics.” She told him and Jack rolled his eyes. She was always trying to set him up with someone. Jack put it down to her not wanting him to be alone which was a sweet thought. 

“If I keep Chad-,” Maddie said, getting back to the topic at hand.

“Yes.” Jack agreed before she finished. _Anything to get the fur ball off my hands._

“-will you buy me a motorbike?” Maddie finished and there was a pause where Jack slapped a hand over his face. “I didn’t think you would say yes.” Maddie giggled and Jack groaned.

“Maddie, I swear to God.” Jack started, ready to sit and argue with his sister but she was already hanging up. 

“I’ll pick him up tomorrow after work. He’ll last that long on his own, right? Good. Bye, Jack.” Maddie said quickly and the line went dead. 

Jack glared at the blond cat on his floor, still watching him with eyes the same colour of his own. “You are the worst.” He told Chad who meowed happily and leapt up onto Jack’s chest, curling up over his stomach. “I’m serious. Bloody cat.” 

He let Chad nap on him for an hour while he used his phone to research more into his case, studying the hotel floor plans in case he needed an emergency exit and mapping the best escape routes out of the city. When he finally shoved the cat off, he finished his packing and went to bed. 

The uncomfortable feeling in his stomach suggested to Jack that this case wasn’t going to be as easy as it appeared to be.


	2. Day One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack arrives in Paris and meets a very good looking guy who keeps distracting him from his mission.

When Jack stepped off the plane, he was convinced he had been flown to the wrong city. A large group of Japanese tourists was on one side of the airport and an even larger group of Chinese tourists was on the other. If he had to guess, he would have said that only ten percent of the people in the airport were actually French. 

Jack sighed, pulled his sunglasses out of his pocket and stepped out into the street, his rucksack hanging loosely over one shoulder. Dooley had been right about the nice weather, Jack mused, feeling the heat the second he left the solid wave of air-conditioning by the door.

He sent Peggy a text to let her know that he’d arrived before checking his location on the map and starting to walk to his hotel. He had planned the route the night before and made sure that everything he did would almost never require him to speak French and make a fool of himself. He would never hear the end of it if he did. 

It wasn’t that he was against the French and he was sure their language was nice once you got over the seven years of class where all you learnt was how to say numbers and colours and ‘hello, my name is…’. Jack just preferred to know what he was doing and reducing the confusing conversations meant he understood more. 

Paris was rather beautiful, Jack decided as he walked past old, quaint buildings, their windows glinting the sunlight that the city was basking in. It had a sense of peace but liveliness to it that Jack liked.

After about an hour- and two collisions with other people as he texted Peggy- Jack arrived at the hotel. It stood out from the surrounding buildings as its appearance was more modern but Jack didn’t care. As long as it had hot water, a bed and a good WIFI connection, it was fine to stay in. 

The reception was small. There were two sofas squashed into a corner, a lift and a sign to what Jack presumed were the stairs and a young, dark-haired girl sitting at the front desk, staring off into space. 

She looked up as he approached, smiling forcedly and wiggling the mouse to load her computer screen. 

“Hello, sir.” She greeted in a tone of voice that screamed ‘I have to be polite to get paid’. “How can I help you?”

It took Jack a moment to process what she had said, translating the few words he did know and guessing the rest. 

“I’m here to check in. My name is Chad Murray.” He told her and she nodded, not even raising an eyebrow about his awful French and very American accent.

She then asked him something which he didn’t understand and all Jack could do was blink a few times. She repeated it again, clearly used to visitors who were as rubbish at French as Jack was but he had no idea what the main words in her sentence were.

“She asked for your passport.” A calm voice said, its owner appearing at Jack’s side a second later. A man, in his early thirties, with short brown hair and a smile, dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans that suck to his body, showing every curve. He had a leather jacket hung on the handle to his suitcase and a pair of sunglasses pushed up into his hair, causing some of the tiny curls to stick up at a weird angle.

“Oh, right. Thanks.” Jack nodded, reaching into his jacket pocket to find his fake passport and handing it to the receptionist who shot the stranger a thankful look. The receptionist handed Jack’s passport back, along with a key card. Jack wasn’t paying much attention to the receptionist anymore though as he was focused on the stranger. 

His English had been spoken with an accent different to a French one so Jack wondered if he was here on holiday. He could see a faint tan line on the back the man’s neck and a slight change in skin colour around his brown eyes in the shape of sunglasses. 

He watched the receptionist and the stranger have a fast conversation while he put away his passport before she passed the stranger a form to sign. He had very neat and gorgeous handwriting with a slight curl to the letters and Jack couldn’t help but think how well it matched his appearance. 

_Wait, what?_

Jack mentally hit himself a few times, trying to dislodge that thought. He was on a mission, not a holiday, and now was not the time to be picking up hot guys that smiled like the sun and- _stop it, Thompson._

Jack made his way over to the lift and pressed the button to call the lift down. He could hear the receptionist and the stranger talking and he nearly lost his composure when the stranger laughed. 

_Pull yourself together, Jack._ He told himself firmly but he hadn’t been with anyone for at least a year and the stranger was most certainly aesthetically pleasing. _No._

The lift arrived and Jack stepped into it, pressing the button for his floor. The stranger had finished talking the receptionist and had made his way over to the lift too, following Jack in and standing on his right. 

There was an awkward silence until the doors closed and it was the stranger who broke it when they had shut. 

“I don’t mean to be rude but I’m curious. If you don’t speak great French, why come to France?” He asked and Jack turned his head to stare at him. That was very blunt. 

Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair, nearly knocking out his sunglasses in the process. “My boss doesn’t understand the difference between French and German and neither does my co-worker who said I could speak French.” 

The stranger chuckled. “You better hope there’s always someone around to translate for you then.” He smiled and Jack smiled back, unable to help himself.

He wasn’t a smiley person by nature and it took a significant degree of friendship to get him to smile properly but the stranger’s smile was infectious. 

“I’m Enver, by the way. Enver Gjokaj.” The stranger- Enver- said, holding out a hand to Jack. 

“Chad Murray.” Jack replied, shaking the hand offered before letting his hand drop back to his side again.

“Nice to meet you, Chad.” Enver nodded and Jack found himself wondering what it would be like to hear Enver say his actual name instead of his fake one. 

“I don’t mean to be rude but I’m curious.” Jack asked and Enver’s face lit up with a grin. “Where are you from? A name like Gjokaj isn’t one you hear often.”

Enver shook his head, laughing under his breath. “My father’s Albanian.” He answered as the doors opened. “See you around, Chad.” He said as Jack got out of the lift. 

Jack smiled. “Yeah, see you.” He nodded before the doors closed and the lift started moving upwards again. He probably wouldn’t see Enver at all, considering the amount of time he was going to be hiding in alleyways to stop a deal but it was a nice thought. 

Jack pulled his phone out of his pocket as he walked down the corridor to his room and sent Peggy a text.

Jackass: I think my life is a Bond film. Met a cute guy who translated some French for me at reception. Next thing you know, he’ll be an enemy spy but he’ll still be my Bond girl anyway.

The response was almost instant.

Carter: Don’t you even think about sleeping with anyone while you’re on a mission. 

Jack laughed, putting his phone away and pressing his key card to the scanner outside his room door. The light turned green and the door slid back with a Star Trek like hiss. 

“Ooh. Fancy.” Jack said out loud as the door slid closed behind him. When Angie had said the hotel was a nice, he didn’t think it would have had a massive TV, a large window at the far end and a bed big enough to fit three people. 

He dumped his bag down by the chest of draws at the foot of the bed, took his sunglasses off and removed his shoes before throwing himself onto the bed to test it. 

“Holy shit.” He murmured. The bed was one of the most comfortable things in existence and he was already making plans to never get up again. He wondered if that was partly down to his own mattress being about five years old but he didn’t care. 

~

After making himself at home, Jack set up his laptop and connected it to the CCTV system in the hotel. Angie had booked the hotel for him because she had found out that Moreau would be staying there so naturally Jack was placed in the same building. 

Jack couldn’t see into any of the rooms but he could see the corridors, reception, canteen and lounge areas. Moreau was nowhere in sight so he opened the S.S.R messaging system and video called Peggy. 

“Jackass, how’s France?” She said before her video loaded. She was in her house, lounging on the sofa with Angie’s feet on her chest. 

“Warm. How’s New York?” He asked and she shrugged.

“Same old, same old. You want something or are you just killing time?” Peggy questioned and Jack grinned. 

“Wanting to get rid of me, Carter? Bit rude. Angie, tell your girlfriend to be nicer to me.” He said and he watched as Angie shifted and appeared in shot. 

“Be nicer to my girlfriend.” The brunette said before leaning out of shot again. Peggy looked like she was about to start howling with laughter and the face Jack was pulling wasn’t helping. 

“I hate both of you. But I do have a question.” Jack sighed when Peggy looked capable of holding a conversation without giggling through it.  
“Yes?” Peggy raised an eyebrow. 

“There appears to be a lot of people dressed up in this hotel. Is there some kind of event going on that I should know about?” He asked and Peggy looked over to Angie when she said something.

“Angie says there is.” Peggy answered and Jack rolled his eyes.

“How helpful. What is it?” He said and Peggy looked back to Angie again, nodding. 

“Okay. Angie says it’s because Moreau’s company has been around for five years and they’re celebrating their success. That explains why Moreau isn’t hiding in his fancy apartment.” Peggy relayed the information and Jack sighed. Why did no one tell him these things before he left?

“Right. Thanks. I’m going to grab some dinner. I’ll let you know if anything happens.” Jack said and ended the call, closing his laptop lid and getting up from the bed. He shook his legs to remove the numb feeling before putting on his shoes and heading down to the canteen. 

One of the wonderful things about the hotel was that it was a buffet canteen so you could just take what you want when you wanted it and then the hotel would charge you a general price for the food. 

Jack wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea for the hotel but he certainly wasn’t complaining when he sat down at a small table by the window, away from the large parties of tourists and business men. He put his tray down and moved his food off it before tucking the tray beside his chair. 

Boeuf bourguignon, chocolate soufflé and wine. Perfect. 

He had eaten lunch on the plane and the food was like heaven in comparison. He took a picture and sent it to Peggy, just to be mean. She sent him back a picture of Angie cooking pasta in their kitchen with her middle finger up to the camera which made him laugh a little. 

Then the whole room went spookily quiet for a brief moment as the door swung open and Léo Moreau entered, striding forward with a look of determination on his face. Jack turned his head away, using the reflection on the window to watch Moreau move across the room. 

Moreau said something very loudly, addressing the whole room and the chatter started again. Jack wondered what he had said, watching as Moreau disappeared round the corner into another section of the canteen. 

“Just so you know, he said ‘do not let me disturb your conversation, friends’.” Jack looked back round to find Enver sitting in the seat opposite, elbows resting on the table. 

If Jack hadn’t been a professional spy, he was sure he would have jumped in surprise but he covered it easily and raised his eyebrows. “Did he? Thanks, I guess. I can’t say I was having a conversation to be disturbed in the first place, though.” 

Enver grinned. “Well, you’re having one now. You know you’re the only other person in this entire hotel whose first language is English.” He said and Jack snorted, taking a sip of his wine.

“I find that hard to believe.” He replied and Enver shook his head.

“It’s true. Most people here are French so it’s just me and you.” Enver said it very politely but that didn’t stop Jack’s mind from temporarily visiting other places. _Mind on the mission, Jackass._ Jack could hear Peggy telling him off in his head which was a little weird.

“I thought you were Albanian.” Jack commented and Enver chuckled.

“My dad is. I’m only half.” He explained and Jack considered asking what the other half was but Enver was already on the next topic. 

“It’s quite interesting to have so many French people here at once. Normally, it’s packed full of English and American tourists. I wonder where they all are.” He said and Jack glanced over in the direction Moreau had gone. How many people working with Moreau were in the building? The way Enver put it made it sound like there was quite a few. 

“I guess I’ll just have to find someone to translate all the time then.” Jack joked and he noticed that the ceiling lights reflected like stars in Enver’s eyes… or maybe that was just the way the man perked up at Jack’s words.

“Don’t worry. I’ll have plenty of free time if you need me.” Enver got out of the chair and left, brushing his hand over Jack’s shoulder as he went. 

_Well, shit_ , Jack thought, _the cute guy I like likes me back._

He called Peggy before he went to bed in the hope that having her shut him down would knock some sense into him and that, combined with a semi-cold shower, seemed to do the trick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder who Enver could be. Hmmmm. XD If you enjoyed, please leave a comment and let me know what you think. It means a lot. xx


	3. Day Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alleys, CCTV and clubbing: all in a day's work... sort of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is quite short but chapter four makes up for it because _ohmygod_ it's so long. Anyway, enjoy.

Jack got lunch in a McDonalds- he got away with speaking limited French there- and spent the rest of the afternoon scouting out all the alleys around the hotel. He doubted Moreau would be as careless to make the deal so close to where he was staying but he still hadn’t quite figured out the best escape route if he needed to leave the hotel at short notice. 

Jack was standing on top of a dumpster when his phone vibrated and he nearly lost his balance. Peggy had the worst timing.

He didn’t even get to say hello when he answered the call.

“Are you checking Moreau’s twitter feed?” Peggy asked as soon as he’d pressed his connected the call to his earpiece.

“I thought that’s what I had you for.” Jack replied, calculating whether he could jump onto the fire escape above him from where he was. 

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that and tell you what I was going to tell you.” Peggy told him and Jack laughed, deciding he could jump it in an emergency but he wasn’t going to try now.

“Alright.” He said, jumping down off the dumpster and running a hand through his hair. “What is it?”

“Nothing.” Peggy said and Jack raised his eyebrows before realising she could see him.

“What?” He said.

“There’s been no activity since he booked in to the hotel. There’s no way to trace where his phone is since last week. He’s going to make the deal himself. He’s shutting down all outlets that will let us track him.” Peggy explained and Jack struggled to keep a neutral face as he left the alley. 

“So I’m going to have to watch his every movement?” He said, barely moving his mouth as he weaved his way through the people on the pavement. 

“Unless you can get a tracker on him, yeah.” Peggy confirmed and Jack groaned.

“Great. Thanks for the information.” He said before ending the call. 

Helpfully, his mind supplied: _there ain’t no rest for the wicked._

~

Léo Moreau was a man of habit, Jack discovered. He replayed all the CCTV footage and found that he always left the hotel at 10am and returned at 5pm. He would go to his room for exactly 45 minutes before going to the canteen for dinner and then return to his room again and not reappear until 10 the next day. 

Jack liked men with habits; it made it easier for breaking in and snooping. He had no intention of doing that- that wasn’t what his mission was- but it was always good to have a backup plan. 

His current plan was a little thin on ground. Peggy had promised to let him know when Alexander James arrived in France for the deal and Jack had to know where the deal would take place when he did. Following Moreau around Paris was the best idea he had and it was quite useful.

Moreau always took a security guard with him when he left so Jack was very careful about how he made his way around, sticking to crowded areas or shaded areas, out of sight. That would make intercepting the deal harder if Moreau would bring guards but it wasn’t too much of a problem. After all, Jack had experience with fighting lots of people at once.  
It was about 8pm when Jack noticed Moreau breaking his pattern. His laptop bleeped, announcing movement in the corridor outside Moreau’s hotel room, and his head shot up from where he had been reading silently, legs curled underneath him. 

Moreau and seven other business men were wandering down the corridor, a host of guards behind them, and all were in outfits that Jack knew were not formal enough to be for a meeting. 

Quickly, he changed his scruffy jeans into some tight, black ones and grabbed his jacket, ruffling his hair up before leaving his room in order to follow Moreau. 

~

The club was crowded and loud, playing some obnoxious French dubstep music with a bass so heavy Jack thought his head might implode. The lights were either turned down low or flashing in different colours, lighting up the dancers in pinks and blues and greens. 

Jack ordered a drink and sat down in a small booth, sipping at it as he watched Moreau and his men laughing. It was almost sickening to watch as a group of both men and women alike in limited clothing clung to the men, moving their bodies to the music. Jack had never understood why so many aristocrats came to bars and paid for company but then he was sure many people wouldn’t understand his lifestyle either. 

“If you want to get into his pants, I’d be happy to translate for you.” Jack did jump when Enver crept up on him, leaning on Jack’s table with a smile. 

Jack suddenly wished he’d ordered something stronger because there was only so many clothes tighter than what Enver had been wearing when they met and he was certainly wearing them now. 

“Sorry, did I read that wrong?” Enver frowned at the expression Jack hadn’t even realised he was pulling. “You do like guys, right?”

Jack nodded a little too quickly for his own liking. “Yeah. Girls, guys, both, neither. Not fussy.” 

Enver nodded, sitting down on the seat beside Jack, their shoulders just touching. “Ah, so you’re pan? That makes sense. I meant it though.” He added and Jack could feel the heat rising to his cheeks. 

“I’m good, thanks. I’m just curious about how the whole world seems to revolve around this guy. He walked in and every head turned.” Jack shrugged. He knew Enver knew more about Moreau that he did and he wasn’t going to waste a perfectly good opportunity to ask.

Enver hummed thoughtfully. “You really know nothing about France, don’t you?” He said with a smile, taking Jack’s drink and taking a large gulp before handing it back. 

Jack shook his head, gaze torn between Moreau, who he should have been watching, and Enver, who was pressed up against his side, his hands resting on the table only millimetres from Jack’s.

“Well, let me tell you a story.” Enver smiled, turning to face Jack properly. “Moreau’s mother was a drug addict. She had him and took up basically any serious drug you can think of so, naturally, when the police caught up, he was taken to an orphanage. Moreau grew up with nothing and yet he aced school and went on to set up a small business, working in helping drug addicts. From what I can tell, he still runs that business as well as his current one which specialises in- what?” Enver stopped, tilting his head. “You’re staring at me weirdly, what is it?”

Jack had only been half listening to Enver explaining Moreau’s backstory. It was useful- especially the part about the drug addiction business which was probably where Alexander James slotted into the story- but he’d gotten a little distracted with how Enver looked. The amount of self-control Jack had was slowly decreasing and he was trying to blame it on the drink but he knew it was because he was lonely and Enver was gorgeous. 

“Chad?” Enver frowned and Jack deflated slightly. He wasn’t meant to be himself; he had a cover to maintain. 

“Yeah, sorry. Zoned out for a minute.” Jack apologised and Enver looked slightly appeased. 

“I can stop talking if you want. I don’t mind.” He offered and Jack shook his head.

“No, no. It’s not you.” He said. He liked hearing Enver talk for some reason. It was almost soothing, in a weird way, to have someone talking to him without any worries behind their words. 

Enver didn’t seem to believe that but he didn’t mention it. “I’m just going to grab a drink. You want something?” He asked, getting up. Jack was very aware of how cold his side felt without Enver’s presence. 

He glanced briefly at Moreau. He wasn’t going anywhere and he would only go back to his hotel room when he was done so what would the harm be?

“Yeah, alright.” 

~

“How many fingers am I holding up?” Enver asked and Jack frowned. 

“Three.” He said, confused, his forehead wrinkling as he narrowed his eyes. What kind of question was that? He’d only had a couple of drunks.

“Alright. Let’s get you back to the hotel.” Enver laughed, giving Jack little opportunity to protest, pulling one of Jack’s arms over his shoulder and helping him up. 

“I’m not that drunk.” Jack mumbled, turning his face into Enver’s neck and breathing in the smell of whiskey and strawberries. “Hey, you smell nice.”

Enver rolled his eyes and helped escort Jack back through the dark streets and to the hotel. Two things occurred to Jack by the time they’d reached the lift. One: he was actually quite drunk, and two: he was still convinced Enver was the most gorgeous man in the entire country. 

Enver chuckled, grip tightening around Jack’s waist and Jack wondered if he’d said that out loud. 

“Yes.” Enver said, confirming that Jack was no longer thinking but talking. “And I’m flattered, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Jack slurred, leaning heavily on Enver as they stepped out the lift onto his floor. 

“Which room’s yours, Chad?” Enver asked and Jack gave him the number, struggling to keep his eyes open. He had been sure he wasn’t that drunk a few moments ago. Huh.

They stopped outside Jack’s room and Jack let go of Enver, leaning against the wall for support. 

“Key card?” Enver said and Jack shut his eyes. 

“Back pocket.” He replied, his mouth twitching into a smile when he felt Enver reach round him and stick his hand into the pocket to find the key card. He wondered if there was a possibility that Enver would kiss him and then Jack knew he’d said that out loud too.

Enver’s lips were soft and gentle and it was only a tiny kiss but Jack felt like he was going to explode. He opened his eyes when Enver pulled away, scanning the key card and opening Jack’s door. 

“Come on then, you.” Enver put an arm round Jack’s waist and helped him to the bed. “Goodnight.” He added before leaving, the door sliding shut behind him. 

Jack fell asleep with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, guys. You're the best. :)


	4. Day Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything Jack thought he knew gets flipped upside down. You may be surprised to find out that Enver isn't actually who he says he is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, I apologise for this taking a little longer than usual. Secondly, I would like to apologise for this being **4000 words long! OMFG.** That's nearly half of the entire story so far. Whoops.  
>  Anyway, enjoy.  
>  ~~(I suck a plots. Why am I doing this?)~~

Jack woke up early to the sound of his phone buzzing and thumping onto the floor as it moved off the end table. He leant down and picked it up, answering the call before checking who it was. 

“It’s too early. What do you want?” He asked although his voice slurred together with sleep, making his words sound like ‘whaduhyuhwan’. 

“Yeah, well I’m an hour ahead of you. How do you think I feel?” Peggy snapped and Jack’s mind cleared a little at the sharpness of her words. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in right now?” 

Jack frowned before last night came back to him and everything made sense. “In my defence, I didn’t sleep with anyone.”

“Jarvis and I tried shutting it down but the damn thing wouldn’t- wait, what?” Peggy stopped and Jack backpedalled quickly.

“Okay. What did I do?” He asked, sitting up and leaning back against the headboard. 

“Someone was on our system last night looking at your files. We traced the device to the hotel and then lost it. I swear to God, Jack, it better have been you or I will set Angie on you.” Jack knew Peggy was in the office then because he could hear her typing furiously, keyboard clacking softly in the background. 

“No one here knows my name though. How could they get into my files?” Jack got out of bed and put his hands on his hips. He hadn’t changed since Enver had left him last night so he was still in his jeans and now that he had his hands over his pockets, he knew exactly how they knew his name. “Shit, Peg. My wallet’s gone.” 

There was a silence in which Jack could feel Peggy fuming. 

“Jack Tristan Samuel Thompson. You are so fucking lucky that Chief isn’t in right now because you would be in such deep shit.” She said quietly but the anger was still there.

“I’m in deep shit anyway.” Jack reminded her and she sighed.

“We won’t say a word to anyone.” She said, telling him as if it had been the hardest decision of her life. Jack choked in surprise.

“What?” He gaped. Someone had just hacked into their system and she wasn’t going to tell?

“There’s only one person in the building who has the equipment to get into our systems. Moreau is on to you, Jack. We know he’s carrying out the deal and he wants to find out who he’s up against. As long as you stop him, we won’t need to mention the hacking.” Peggy said and Jack’s heart skipped a beat. _So much for a surprise._ But how had Moreau known that he was the agent? He had been sure he was out of sight the whole time.

“The deal must be really important if he’s researching me.” Jack said, pacing back and forth beside the bed. “Has James got a plane yet?”

“He lands in two hours.” Peggy answered and Jack swore. “Yes. Exactly. I do hope you pull through on this, Jack, or we’ll all lose our jobs.”

She hung up and left Jack standing in silence, mind racing. He had two hours to find where the deal would take place. Two hours. 

“Fuck.” 

~

“You got somewhere to be?” Enver said with a smile when Jack rushed into the lift, moving so fast that he almost ran into the back wall.

“You could say that.” Jack nodded, drumming his fingers against his hip. Moreau had left the building in a fancy car and Jack needed to catch up. 

Enver laughed. “I’ve got a motorbike locked up downstairs if you want it.” He offered and Jack nearly hugged him. _This man is a blessing_ , he thought. 

“That would be great. Thank you so much.” He nodded. 

Enver’s bike reminded Jack of the one Black Widow used. It was perfect and Jack couldn’t quite believe there wasn’t a catch. 

“No catch. I promise. Just don’t break her, alright?” Enver said as Jack revved the engine. _That was a nice sound._

“Yes, sir.” He agreed, mock saluting. 

“Oh, and I think this is yours, yeah? I found it in the lift this morning.” Enver pulled Jack’s wallet from his pocket and Jack’s jaw dropped. 

“Is there anything you can’t do?” He asked, taking the wallet and pocketing it. 

“I’ve been told I’m rubbish at singing.” Enver said and Jack laughed. 

“I doubt that.” He said before he drove out of the hotel garage and into the streets, after Moreau’s car. If Jack hadn’t been so focused on Moreau, he might have started to put together the pieces to a new puzzle that had presented itself. 

~

Jack nearly lost Moreau’s car twice but he recognised the manoeuvres of someone who didn’t want to be followed and kept as close as he dared. In the end, Moreau’s car drew up at a café and three men got out and went into the café. Jack got off the bike, chained it too a lamppost and waited.

Moreau got out of the car shortly after the men had disappeared with a man and a suitcase. The suitcase that Jack knew would be transferred to the US if he didn’t stop it.

He followed them as they disappeared down a back alley, keeping close to the wall with one hand on his gun at all times. He stopped when he heard voices and leant slightly so he could see round the corner. 

“It’s all here?” James asked, hand outstretch to take the suitcase. 

“Yes.” Moreau said, passing it over and taking the suitcase by James’ feet. James appeared to weigh the suitcase for a moment before nodding. 

“Cressida.” He said, pulling his hood over his head and ducking into the shadows. Jack waited until Moreau had turned away before starting to run after James. It had rained some point during the five hours of sleep Jack had gotten so water kept flicking up into his shoes but he didn’t stop until he cut the corner ahead of James and waited for the young man to appear.

When he did, he raised his gun and pointed it at him. “Put the suitcase on the ground and your hands in the air.” He said and James’ eyes flicked around like a cornered animal.

Jack advanced slowly, gesturing for the man to drop the suitcase. He resisted the urge to sigh when James’ hand went for a concealed weapon and he pulled the trigger. The bullet went through the man’s shoulder and he cried out, dropping the suitcase as he went to put a hand over the wound. He opened his mouth to say something but Jack’s fist collided with his jaw, sending him sprawling backwards and onto the ground. 

Jack crouched down and opened the suitcase, expecting to find drugs, but what he did find was even worse. 

“Peggy.” He said, syncing his ear piece into a call to the other agent. “We’ve got a problem.”

“Did he get away?” Peggy asked and Jack shook his head, staring at the contents of the suitcase. Stacks and stacks of money. 

“No but James wasn’t the one accepting the goods. Moreau was.” 

~

“I hate this.” Jack complained, drumming his fingers on his knee as he watched the security footage on his laptop, waiting for Moreau to leave his room. “Can’t I just go in and blow his brains out if he tries anything?”

The silence that followed was a very clear ‘no’ from Peggy. 

“I’ve been waiting for four hours, Peg. World domination could be imminent and I’m sitting on a hotel bed, watching an empty corridor.” Jack said and Peggy sighed. 

“You are more than welcome to try and calm down the French police after you _shot_ James and left him there with the bloody suitcase.” Peggy replied and Jack rolled his eyes. 

“What did you expect me to do? Take the money and then explain why I was walking through Paris with a suitcase covered in blood?” He shot back and Peggy groaned. 

“I should have gone with you. God knows how you haven’t been arrested or shot at yet but I can guarantee that your face will be on my target for a solid three months at least.” Peggy said and Jack chuckled. 

“Just mind my nose. It’s still delicate.” 

~

After six hours of waiting, Moreau finally left his room and Jack moved as fast as he dared. Stark had given him some fancy bit of tech to open doors like the ones in the hotel and Jack was quite grateful he had accepted it. 

Or he would have been if the thing worked. 

“I’m going to murder Stark.” He said out loud when the door refused to open, the light on the detector staying red. 

He thought about kicking the door down but he knew that would create too much attention, even if he had shut down the camera that showed Moreau’s room. 

He tried Stark’s device again and the door opened. 

“How good are you at password guessing? Hacking I can do but guessing passwords is so hard.” Enver stood in the doorway and Jack instinctively went to punch him but Enver caught his fist and used it to pull Jack into the room. 

The door slid shut and Jack glared. “You bastard.” He growled. He had been lied to and he hadn’t even noticed. But it all made sense. Of course Enver- or whatever his real name was- was an agent too. “You took my wallet.” He realised and Enver smiled, letting go of his fist and moving over to where a laptop was placed on top of the chest of draws. 

“I need a password to unlock whatever Moreau bought and everything I’ve tried didn’t work. We’ve got ten minutes before he comes back and the transfer takes about five so you better know something useful or we’re both dead.” Enver explained and Jack struggled to get his head around it all. 

“You- I- how?” He gaped. He was the best in the agency; how had he been fooled so easily? The problem was that Jack knew exactly what the answer was and he was kicking himself for it. He’d let himself develop feelings rather than focusing on the mission and now he felt like he was ten steps behind everyone else. 

“I’ll explain later if you can guess this damn password. You’ve been watching Moreau like a hawk, you must have seen something.” Enver pressed and Jack found himself moving over to the laptop. 

‘Enter password’ it read and Jack frowned. 

“What have you tried?” He asked, pushing everything else to the back of his mind. If he was incapable of focusing before, he was going to make sure he was when it mattered. 

“The company name, his name, wife, kids, mistress and couple of the properties he owns. The software I’ve got,-” Enver tapped a small wire that connected the laptop to what Jack assumed was Enver’s laptop, “- says no numbers, lower case, eight letters. It’s running combos but there’s only a certain number of tries before this thing wipes itself clean.” 

Jack nodded, running a hand through his hair as he thought. If Moreau hadn’t been the one to transfer the suitcase, why would the password be relevant to him? What if it was to do with James? 

He thought back to the night he had spent studying everything in James’ file, trying to figure out something significant. He had no living family, no place of residence and no gang that he belonged to… but who said the family needed to be living.

_Cressida._ That was what James had said to Moreau in the alley. Cressida was his sister who had died two years ago. Cressida with eight letters and no numbers.

He pulled the laptop in his direction and typed ‘cressida’ into the password input, making sure Enver could see what he was typing before he hit enter. 

The box disappeared and was replaced by the desktop of the laptop. Enver put a hand on Jack’s shoulder, using the other to start transferring files across from Moreau’s laptop to his own. 

“Good job, Jack.” He said and Jack temporarily forgot how to breathe. He had pictured Enver saying his name but not like that. Not when he was the unknown variable in a massive equation that Jack couldn’t get his head around.

“So you did take my wallet and you hacked into our system.” Jack said, taking a step back from Enver whose face fell a little. 

“Sorry about that.” He said, clearly possessing enough decency to look sheepish. “If it makes you feel better, I didn’t read all of your Japan file- and I deserved that.” He added, putting a hand to his mouth, tasting blood. 

Jack shook his fist, glaring at the man he had just punched hard enough to knock him to the floor. “Don’t.” He said through gritted teeth and Enver remained silent, getting up off the floor. 

Neither man said a word for a long time and it was Jack who broke the silence. 

“Stop staring at me.” He said, voice low and still very angry. Enver apologised and looked away, settling his gaze on the laptop. Jack still had the very strong desire to punch him again but he settled for drumming his fingers on the top of the chest of draws, staring so hard at the laptops that he could have bored a hole through them. 

The laptop bleeped when it finished transferring the data and Enver unplugged the connecting wire, slipping both into a satchel that he picked up from the floor. He was more prepared than Jack was and Jack wondered how much he actually knew about Moreau that he wasn’t saying. 

“Right. Let’s go.” Enver said, putting the satchel over his shoulder and closing the laptop lid so it looked the way Jack assumed he had found it. 

They left the room and made it a little way down the corridor when they heard footsteps approaching and the unmistakeable voice of Léo Moreau.

“They’ll know it was us.” Jack hissed.

“Not unless they think we were doing something else.” Enver muttered, putting his hands on Jack’s shoulders and shoving him back against the wall. “Put one hand in my hair and your other on my waist.” 

Jack raised his eyebrows but his moved his hands accordingly. He wasn’t sure why he was surprised when Enver’s hands went to his hips and he brought their mouths together. Public displays of affection were always a good hiding tactic and yet Jack couldn’t shake the feeling that it was just a tactic. 

He couldn’t quite bring himself to return the kiss, still stunned as Enver’s mouth moved against his. Tactics weren’t meant to feel that good.

“You have to kiss me back, you know.” Enver whispered and Jack did. He could feel Enver laugh into his mouth when he moved his head for a better angle without even meaning too. God, Jack was so angry but he couldn’t be angry at _this._ He couldn’t be angry at Enver for lying to him and hacking the system when he kissed like he was about to die tomorrow. He wanted to; he needed to but he couldn’t. 

Then, somewhere in the pretending, the tactic part of the kiss was forgotten and they both didn’t realise Moreau was long gone until someone else walked by and wolf-whistled. 

“Come on.” Enver said, stepping back before he started walking down the corridor back to his room. Jack followed wordlessly.

~

Enver’s room was very similar to Jack’s and, just like Jack, Enver had barely unpacked anything. Everything was either in his suitcase or on the bed. Enver sat down and plugged his laptop into a backup box, syncing and securing it before letting it run. 

Jack stood near the entrance of the room, watching Enver carefully, his arms folded across his chest. Enver moved around the room, gathering up a few of his things that had ended up on the wrong side of the room and stuffing them into his suitcase. 

“What?” Enver asked, catching Jack’s eye and looking up at him with his head tilted. “Is a man not allowed to tidy up anymore?”

“I don’t know. Is a man not allowed to be tricked into doing half a mission for someone else?” Jack retorted and Enver sighed, standing up properly. 

“I don’t know what you expect me to say. It’s not like you weren’t lying to me.” Enver pointed out and Jack huffed.

“I was lying to everyone. You were lying to me specifically.” Jack paused, starting to put a few things together. “You drugged me at the bar so you could get my wallet, didn’t you?” He said, the words coming out a little too viciously, but Enver didn’t even flinch.

“Yes. You didn’t make it difficult though. I don’t understand it. You’re one of the best agents in the S.S.R and yet you’re practically blind to everything. Did you even read your case file?” Enver questioned and for a second Jack felt smaller than he really was. 

“You seem to have read every case file even if you weren’t meant to so you can shut your mouth.” He snapped and Enver laughed. How could he laugh when Jack was so angry?

“Look, I’m sorry about that but it’s kind of my job. If it makes you feel any better, I was going to ask you.” Enver said and Jack raised his eyebrows. He didn’t believe that in the slightest. “Don’t take it personally.” Enver added and Jack snorted.

“Don’t take it personally!” He echoed, voice rising in volume. “Don’t take it personally? I am taking this _very_ personally. You know how many people hack into our systems successfully? None. None except you and now you’ve done it because of _me_ and I am going to get fired for this unless I can ace this mission which _you_ have made almost impossible because you have made this _very_ personal for me.” He paused for a moment and took a deep breath, having forgotten to breathe while he yelled. “You keep treating me like I’m an idiot and while I am glad you know more than I do, I would really appreciate it if you could- oh, I don’t know- tell me who the fuck you are and what the fuck is actually going on!”

The silence that followed was so tense that you could have cut it and yet, despite everything Jack had just said, Enver stood in front of him, expression unreadable, eyes searching his. After what seemed like forever, Enver held out his hand to Jack.

“My name’s Daniel. Daniel Sousa.” He said and Jack just stared at him, waiting for him to drop his hand. Enver- no, Daniel- shrugged. “Alright. Don’t be polite. Your call, Jackass.”

“That’s part A of section one. Who do you work for?” Jack demanded, watching as Daniel picked up his laptop off the floor and sat down on the edge of the bed, placing it on his lap.

“I don’t.” Daniel responded and Jack had to refrain from hitting him. Either he genuinely was a free-agent or he was just an annoying bastard. (Jack refused to acknowledge which of the two _he_ was.)

“Great. The boss is going to love that. Hey, that guy who hacked our systems? Yeah, he’s not even part of an agency. He was just doing it because he’s a nosey little shit.” Jack said, glaring. 

Daniel didn’t even look up. “Try ‘hey, that guy who hacked our systems? He drugged me, stole my wallet, hacked into the system, tracked me as I drove round Paris on his bike and used me to get into Moreau’s computer.’” He replied. “You can leave out the kissing part. You’re very good, by the way.”

Jack refused to blush. “That doesn’t change the fact you drugged me.” He said, folding his arms across his chest and Daniel chuckled. 

“Of course not. Say, do I need to apologise to anyone? Romantic partner of any gender? Spouse?” He asked and Jack glared harder. 

“If I was married, do you honestly think I’d-,” He stopped mid-way through his sentence. He wasn’t sure how he was going to end it but the endings he had in mind certainly weren’t going to be said out loud. 

_If I was married, do you honestly think I’d fall in love with you?_

Daniel looked up and smiled. “You’re lucky you’re my type then, aren’t you?” He said like he had read Jack’s mind and Jack could feel himself blush despite trying so hard not to. “Come here and look at this.” Daniel added, beckoning Jack over and patting the space beside him on the bed. 

“Nice wallpaper.” Jack muttered, sitting down and looking at the screen. Of course Daniel would have a picture of Captain America fighting chitauri as his background. 

“Thanks. I took the photo myself.” Daniel said. “Right, let’s look at what Moreau paid all that money for.” He added, opening up the document. It opened up two other windows and both agents scanned the information presented to them. 

Each of the three windows now open had coordinates at the top followed by a six digit number. The files then contained information about three people with their pictures located further down. One of the windows contained the information on Moreau.

“What-?” Jack started and Daniel shook his head, opening a browser window and searching the coordinates in the Moreau window. 

“Alright. So that goes to his business building.” Daniel frowned, checking the other coordinates and the names. “These go to other wealthy business men in Berlin and New York.” He started typing so fast that his hands became a blur on the keys and all Jack could do was sit and watch as he worked. 

It was like watching Peggy when she had to finish in time to go to the theatre with Angie in the evening, except that Jack normally understood what was going on with Peggy and he was so out of his depth with Daniel that he would probably have been more useful if he acted as Daniel’s pillow. 

“There’s gotta be something connecting them.” Daniel muttered, hitting enter on the code he had written and sitting still as he waited for a result. “We’re not talking a simple interception now. Sorry, Jack.” He said and Jack sighed.

“It stopped being simple when you wore the world’s tightest clothing… and I lost all ability to keep my mouth shut, apparently.” Jack replied and Daniel chuckled. 

“Anyone ever told you that you’re like James Bond?” Daniel asked, looking away from the laptop, and Jack’s mouth twitched into a smile.

“Not as a compliment.” He answered and they stayed silent, just looking at each other, until Daniel’s laptop bleeped. 

Daniel swore. “Nothing. I’m going to have to run an entire search, aren’t I? That’s going to take too long; I don’t have five hours to spare.” He groaned. 

“You can use our system if you want.” Jack offered, getting to his feet. Daniel’s eyes widened. 

“Seriously? You’re okay with that? You hated me five minutes ago.” He checked and Jack shrugged. 

“I’m using you to do my mission for me.” He said and Daniel’s face split into the same gorgeous smile that Jack remembered seeing on the first day they met. “Gimme your key card and I’ll go fetch my laptop.”

“Here.” Daniel said, digging the key card out of his pocket before handing it to Jack. “Oh, and Jack?” He said when Jack got up to leave.

“Mm?” Jack turned his head to look at Daniel.

“You might want to grab your night stuff too. We’re gonna be here a while.” If Daniel winked, Jack politely ignored it and slipped out of the room. 

He stood in the hallway for a moment, trying to put together everything that had just happened. He wasn’t sure whether his heart was beating twice as fast because of the new information on Moreau or because of Daniel but both was probably a safe answer. 

Jack made it three quarters of the way to his room when something hard collided with the back of his head and the ground rushed up to meet him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger! Dun dun dun! If you've got something you wanna say, leave a comment. It's much appreciated. What will happen next? Nobody knows. XD


	5. Day Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone loves a good bit of interrogation... except when there's a gun involved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I just want to let you know that after I've finished this story, I'm going to take it down. I'm not too happy with it and, seeing as there is so little in the way of JackDaniels fics, I don't want it hanging around. So, I'll finish it for you and give you some time to read the end but after that I'll take it down and start work on something else for you guys. Cool? Cool, thanks.  
> Enjoy.

When Jack came round, everything hurt. His hands were handcuffed to something behind him and his legs were tied to the chair legs. He could taste blood in his mouth and he could feel blood dripping down his neck slowly. 

He groaned without really meaning to and opened his eyes, raising his head to look around. His first thought was ‘ _this is not the abandoned warehouse I was expecting_ ’ and his second was ‘ _the city looks nice from up here_ ’. Out the massive window at the end of the room, Jack could see the Eiffel Tower and the rest of Paris, illumined by lights and the moon when it appeared from behind the clouds. 

Jack turned his head to try and look at the room behind him and hissed in pain as the movement stung. From what he could tell, he was in an office and he’d been placed by the window so he couldn’t see the majority of the room behind him. 

“Is he allowed to be awake yet?” A hushed voice said, only just audible. They spoke in French and Jack had no idea what they were saying.

“Dunno. You think we should get ‘im?” Another voice replied, equally as quiet. They sounded as though they were at the other end of the room, watching him. 

“Nah.” The first voice decided. “I haven’t finished my book yet. Send him out for a bit.” 

There was a sigh, a puff of air and a whizz before something pierced Jack’s shoulder. He wondered what had happened to his sleeve as he passed out.  
~

“Wakey wakey, little spy. Come on, that’s it.” Jack opened his eyes slowly, coming round as someone tapped his face. “Hello.”

Jack blinked a few times to get his eyes to focus on Léo Moreau who smiled at him with a fake sweetness. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting but Jack hadn’t been expecting to see Moreau. 

“Yeah, I don’t speak French.” Jack said, words slurred. Moreau laughed. 

“I’m not speaking French. My accent may be strong but I assure you this is English.” He said, moving back from Jack to sit down in a chair that had been placed down for him. “I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

Jack hummed. “Sorry, you’re not my type.” He said and Moreau laughed again. 

“I know. We’ll get to your partner in a minute.” He leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Now, your name is Chad, correct?” 

Jack breathed a sigh of relief. At least there was still some positive things about the situation. “Yup.” He answered and Moreau smiled. 

“Well, Chad, you might be aware that you’ve taken something of mine.” He said and Jack widened his eyes with mock innocence. 

“Really? Oh dear.” He frowned and Moreau’s smile disappeared. 

“Don’t make this hard for yourself. I want to know who you work for and what you’ve done with it. It’s that simple.” He said, leaning back and lacing his fingers together, watching Jack with expectant eyes. 

Jack pretended to think for a moment. “I don’t think so. Sorry. Besides, you’re not giving me anything in return.” 

Moreau sighed. “I thought you might play that game. Okay, bring him in.” The last part was said in French and Moreau waved at someone behind Jack. A few moments later, a chair was dragged round and placed on Jack’s right before someone was shoved into it.

When Moreau had said they would get to Daniel later, Jack had thought he meant talking but he turned his head enough to recognise the man next to him. Daniel smiled at him even though his face looked as beaten as Jack knew he was. 

“First things first,” Moreau said, addressing both of them, “please don’t bleed on my carpet if you can help it; I had it recently replaced.” Jack contemplated spitting out the blood in his mouth onto the carpet but he didn’t. 

“You shouldn’t have tried to shoot me then, should you?” Daniel said, the fierceness in his voice surprising Jack slightly. 

“Now now. You put up an excellent fight, I will give you that. Shame about the window.” Moreau tutted and Jack frowned. 

“What happened to the window?” He asked. If Moreau was trying to be threatening, he wasn’t doing a good job. It felt more like a general conversation than an interrogation. 

“I threw two of his men out of it.” Daniel shrugged like it was nothing. “There wasn’t enough space to fight all of them so I made some.” 

Jack laughed but stopped when it hurt too much. “You sound just like a friend of mine.” 

“Does that imply we’re not friends too?” Daniel pouted before someone standing behind them grabbed their heads and knocked them together. 

“Please shut up, gentlemen.” Moreau requested and the attention turned back to him. “Now, I’m going to need you to tell me who you’re working for and where my documents are.” 

“Or?” Both Daniel and Jack said at the same time and the person who had hit their heads together stepped round from behind them, holding a gun that was aimed at Daniel. 

“Or I’ll shoot one of you.” Moreau said, face completely serious. Jack’s jaw clenched and Daniel tensed up next to him. “Come on. Start talking.” He prompted and then sighed when they didn’t say anything.

He said something in French that Jack didn’t understand but Daniel did and he tried to leap out of his chair, only to be held back by his restraints. He said something in French to Moreau who raised his eyebrows and Jack’s gaze flicked between them. 

“Shoot him anyway.” Moreau said in English this time and Daniel yelled. 

“My name is Daniel Sousa. I’m an agent from an organisation in the US. We deal with terrorists and international disturbances. I took your documents; not him. Leave him out of this.” He said and Moreau nodded, turning to Jack. 

Jack was still staring at Daniel. He couldn’t decide if what Daniel had said about his agency was true or not considering he had said he was a free agent. It was getting difficult to tell the truth from the lie.

“Your turn.” Moreau said to Jack. “He just saved your life. I suggest you return the favour.” 

“Don’t tell him anything.” Daniel hissed and Jack felt like he was standing at a crossroads. He wanted to listen to Daniel but he wasn’t about to get him killed.

“My name’s not actually Chad. It’s Jack.” Jack started and Daniel cut him off before he could continue. 

“I said don’t tell him anything.” He yelled and Moreau rolled his eyes.

“Shoot him in the knee.” He instructed and the shot wasn’t the only sound that echoed. The distinctive sound of metal hitting metal rang for five seconds and all eyes focused on Daniel who shook his head. 

“You should have shot the other leg.” He said before getting up out of the chair, no longer tied down. He hit the gunman in the wrist before grabbing the barrel of the gun and turning it round on him, firing once before turning to Moreau as the body dropped.

Moreau hadn’t even moved. “If you shoot me, you’ll never get out of the city.” He said and Daniel laughed. 

“I had no intention of doing so.” He smiled. “I just want to ask you a few questions. First things first, no blood on the carpet.” 

Jack couldn’t help but be a little scared of the way a smile grew across Daniel’s face. Moreau seemed to be even more terrified although the only thing showing it was his twitching hands. 

“What connects you to the others in the files?” Daniel asked and Moreau swallowed.   
“If I tell you, you’ll let me live?” He checked and Daniel nodded. 

“Sure, if you like.” He agreed and Moreau visibly considered his options before he spoke again. He explained in French and Jack decided that, if he didn’t get fired when he returned, he would try to learn French. 

Once Moreau had finished talking, Daniel lowered the gun and put it into his belt. “Merci.” He said before he knocked Moreau out and letting the man fall out of his chair and onto the floor. 

There was a three second pause before Daniel seemed to shed his outer walls and he knelt down in front of Jack, putting his hands on either side of his face. 

“Are you alright?” He asked, eyes searching Jack’s. It occurred to Jack that he wasn’t the only one who might have started to fall in love. “I’m sorry about not letting you protect me but I was nearly out of the damn handcuffs and your files are available to find.” 

“You got shot.” Jack frowned, eyes going to Daniel’s right leg. Daniel nodded, reaching round Jack to undo the handcuffs that held his hands back. 

“Not for the first time, I can assure you.” He said although his tone wasn’t as light-hearted as he intended it to be. “Come on; we should get out of here before anyone new shows up.” He undid the restraints around Jack’s legs and stood up, holding out a hand to him.

Jack took it and allowed Daniel to pull him to his feet. “Where does it stop?” He asked, curiosity getting the better of his manners, and Daniel bit his lip, looking away.

“Half-way down my thigh.” Daniel answered eventually. He walked round the office to a desk at the far end and turned on the computer there. Now that Jack knew, he could see the way Daniel dragged his right leg slightly as he walked. 

Jack looked from the dead gunman, to Moreau’s unconscious body to Daniel who was typing something into the computer. There was a whir as the security cameras shut down and Daniel deleted the footage. 

“What did you do with the files?” Jack asked, moving over to the window to look out over the city. Daniel came to stand next to him, their shoulders pressed together.

“I sent them to Agent Carter. She seemed responsible enough to have them.” Daniel said and Jack stared at him, surprised and impressed.   
“You’re incredible, you know that?” He told him and Daniel smiled. 

“I’m going to do something I shouldn’t.” He said before he pushed himself up onto his toes and kissed Jack gently, his arms going around Jack’s neck. 

Jack had never believed in ‘true love’s kiss’ and the soulmate idea but he might have been willing to make an exception for that moment. It no longer seemed important that they were both beaten and bloody or that Jack ran the possibility of being fired or that they’d uncovered some mystery that needed solving; all that mattered to Jack was Daniel and the way he kissed like it meant everything he couldn’t say. 

Daniel pulled back and Jack watched as his face shifted from full of emotion to unreadable. “Let’s go.”

~

“How did you lose it?” Jack asked, one eye closed as Daniel cleaned up his face. Even with only one eye, he could see the way Daniel physically backed away from the question. If the amount of anti-septic applied to his face became slightly too much, neither of them mentioned it.

“I don’t really… thanks.” Daniel said, not meeting Jack’s gaze even as he stood up, getting up from where he had sat on Jack’s bed next to him. It was impossible for him to go back to his own room with hotel staff trying to repair his window so he had climbed up the fire escape and Jack had opened the window for him to get in. 

Jack wasn’t sure if Daniel would collect his things from his room or not but he had forced Jack onto the bed and started patching him up. Judging by the faces he had pulled, he had been thinking over what Moreau had said and Jack wished he knew what that was. Instead, he had been stuck with one thing he understood: Daniel was missing his right leg.

“Get some rest. I’ll explain everything once I fully understand it.” Daniel told him, picking up the first aid kit and switching off the light in the main room. The room was now only lit up by the light coming from the bathroom.

“You know, it doesn’t change anything.” Jack said as Daniel headed towards the bathroom. Daniel stopped in the doorway but he didn’t look back. 

“I know.” He replied finally. “But I’m trying to let it.” He closed the bathroom door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Kudos and comments mean so much to me so please feel free to let me know what you think. x


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